There are billions of people in the entire world, however, chances such as certain individual shares the same personality, height, or hobbies of other people who live in the opposite extreme of the globe is ultimately bizarre. In a similar idea, a William Shakespeare’s play, entitled King Lear demonstrates the similarities of people, particularly through the work of relativeness that runs in blood. The play revolves around King Lear and his three daughters, along with a parallel sub-plot of Gloucester and his two sons. Mainly, Lear banishes and disowns Cordelia, one of his daughters, and grants the other two, Goneril and Regan with his inheritance and power. But unfortunately, Goneril and Regan eventually betrays Lear, whereas Cordelia comes back to save him. Also, the play corresponds to a well-known phrase, “like father, like daughter”, which genuinely refers to Lear and his daughters. Altogether, King Lear’s existence as a father projects distinguishable affinities between his and the lives of his daughters. The father and daughters’ similarities vary solely depending on how the characters exhibit their actions through their own will.
First of all, Goneril is the eldest and “one of the villainous daughters of King Lear” (Boyce), as she declares her great love for Lear in exchange to a portion of her father’s kingdom. Throughout the play, Lear and Goneril are seen alike by means of the motif of blindness that links them together as a father and daughter. Primarily, Goneril is not literally blind and so does Lear, yet they are blinded by the illusions that flow in their minds. Goneril is blinded over the power and inheritance that Lear gives her and still not contented by plotting against Lear by saying, “Pray you let’s hit to...
... middle of paper ...
... destiny of each holds. Goneril is similar to Lear through the theme of blindness and madness combined together. Regan, on the other hand, is like Lear because they both experienced as ill-fated destiny that their own loved ones committed to them. Lastly, Cordelia is said to be parallel to Lear because of their imperfection as human beings and also their illustration of Christ and Mary in Christian viewpoint. In the end, every characters involve, possess a likeness, whether it is in good or bad way.
Works Cited
Shakespeare, William. King Lear. Ed. Ken Roy. 2nd ed. Toronto: Harcourt Canada, 2002. Print.
Boyce, Charles. "Cordelia." Critical Companion to William Shakespeare: A Literary Reference to His Life and Work, Critical Companion. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2005. Facts
On File, Inc. Bloom's Literature. Facts On File, Inc. 11 November 2013.
They are parallel in how the characters that are mentioned earlier intentionally try to appear different to achieve something; where in The Wars, Robert wants to be like a soldier, and in King Lear, Goneril and Regan want to appear as loving daughters. However, their reality and where it leads them is what differentiates them. Where in The Wars, Robert regains his true, noble and compassionate self, but in King Lear, Goneril and Regan’s true selfish personality leads them to oppose each other and eventually
Goneril and Regan, two daughters of King Lear try to gain some power. After Lear banishes Cordelia, Goneril and Regan think that their father is going crazy and they over throw his power of being a king. Another character that tries to gain some more power in the play is the character, Edmund, his brother Edgar has more power than him, people treat Edgar better because Edgar was born in their parents’ marriage, while Edmund was not so they call Edmund, Gloucester’s illegitimate son.
In Shakespeare’s version, Lear is the head of the family. He is the one who makes the decisions and calls the shots. However, he also makes the foolish decision to relinquish his power to his daughters and their husbands. In this household, and the one present in Smiley’s adaption, Lear is the one who holds the power. Even though Goneril and Regan are married, Lear is still the one who is the head of the household. However, once he decides to let go of his power, he struggles to adjust to the shift in power. Smiley utilizes this same struggle in her own novel by having him sign away his farm to Ginny and Rose. This idea of a shift in power signals an end to his reign at the top of this patriarchy even though he still tries to hold onto his place by placing certain rules and expectations on his daughters. If he were to have had sons, they would have taken his throne. This underlying idea is present in both works. It is a comment to the undesirability to have daughters as they do not have much of a role to play. Larry does not speak about his daughters in a positive light. He refers to them as the “whores” that “had sent him out into the storms and that he wished he’d had son” (Smiley 195). Lear does not speak much better of them and calls them “pelican daughters” (Shakespeare 78). Pelican is referring to feeding on a parent’s blood. Lear specifically uses the word
One of the main signals of the growing chaos of Lear's world is the distortion of familial and social ties. King Lear exiles his favorite daughter, Cordelia, for a trifling offense, and those daughters he does favor soon turn against him.
The chaos that occurs in "King Lear" is due the reshaping of bonds within the society. Thus naturally, bonds must be broken, kept and most importantly, formed. This rearrangement of bonds is necessary to Lear understanding his personal identity. Bonds that are broken include those relations between King Lear and his two eldest daughters (Regan and Goneril), between Glouster and Edmund and also between Edmund and Edgar. Lear and Cordelia; Lear and Kent; Glouster and Edgar include those bonds that are existent at both the beginning and conclusion of the play. By the ending of the play, Lear is able to come to terms with himself and with nature.
She decided that having her father live with her was more than she could bear and, therefore, ordered Oswald to both disobey and ignore Lear from that point onward in hopes that he would soon leave her home. Thus, Goneril is explicitly disobeyin...
The plot of King Lear is set in motion by the conversation between Lear and his daughters. In return for their love and honour, he will give them land and power. The fact that they are daughters and not sons is significant because Lear demands their total love, trying to put them into a mother role: something he would not do if they were men. Goneril and Regan are neither noble nor truthful and they have no problem lying to their father for their own personal gain. While Regan claims "I am alone felicitate/ In your dear Highness' love." (I.i.75-76) and later treats her father in the most reprehensible manner, Cordelia denies Lear's unnatural request saying, "Sure, I shall never marry like my sisters/ To love my father all" (I.i.103-104). Her truthful refusal to proclaim total love for her father proves her to be the actual loving daughter but results in her banishment. From this first scene, the characters' alliances and allegiances are forged and all that follows is directly resultant.
The Parallel Plots of Shakespeare's King Lear. Many works of literature contain parallel plots in which similar actions taken by various characters precipitate identical results. Upon careful examination, it is evident that “such plots exist in Shakespeare's play King Lear with the deaths of King Lear, Cordelia, Edmund, and Goneril, among others” (Curry 17). The betrayal of a commitment to an authority figure is the cause behind each of the above characters' deaths.
Communication is the key essential for one to fully understand and personify the thought of another. Without the key essentials themselves, a knowledge for wisdom and understanding would be lost, thus, causing a breakdown towards communication and emotional intelligence. Within the theatrical play, King Lear written by William Shakespeare himself, comes the story of the falling of an old English Elizabethan king, Lear, whose patriarch role was taken away; due to the act of his own pride. Other than the play’s main plot, King Lear too portrays the telling between the lost of communication and the consequences of its breakdown between people, parents and children. The lack of communication and understanding is shown throughout the entire play,
...ct between Regan and Goneril on the one side and Cordelia on the other is a situation of trust and betrayal that appeals to the most basic of human feelings. These portrayals of fundamental human conflicts; trust and betrayal, good and evil, logical and insane, as they are shown in King Lear appeal as much to human minds of all levels of education today as the did in Elizabethan England.
In my opinion, it is the imagery of animals and savage monsters that leave the most lasting impression. The imagination is filled with pictures of wild and menacing creatures, ravenous in their appetites, cruel in their instincts. The underlying emphasis in such imagery is on the vileness of which humanity is capable. It is often used in connection with Goneril and Regan. Throughout the play, the sisters are compared unfavourably to animals and monsters. Lear often uses animal and monster metaphors when describing his daughters' cruelness and heartlessness. He calls Goneril a "marble-hearted fiend" and says that her ingratitude is more hideous than that of a sea-monster. Lear says that the pain of ingratitude is "sharper than a serpent's tooth". he returns to this image later, telling Regan that her sister "struck me with her tongue,/Most serpent-like". Before Lear exits into the storm, he says that he would rather "be a comrade with the wolf and owl" than return to Goneril. The reader is now beginning to see the true hatred towards his evil daughters.
King Lear, the protagonist of the play, is a truly tragic figure. He is driven by greed and arrogance and is known for his stubbornness and imperious temper, he often acts upon emotions and whims. He values appearances above reality. He wants to be treated as a king and to enjoy the title, but he doesn’t want to fulfill a king’s obligations of governing for the good of his subjects.
King Lear by Shakespeare portrayed the negative effects of power resulting in destruction caused by the children of a figure with authority. Through lies and continual hatred, characters maintained a greed for power causing destruction within their families. The daughter’s of Lear and the son Gloucester lied to inherit power for themselves. Edmund the son of Gloucester planned to eliminate his brother Edgar from his inheritance.
Once Goneril and Regan took complete control of the kingdom, it was evident that King Lear’s power and authority was tarnished. Goneril and Regan abuse of power lead to the madness and the crisis Lear experienced. For example, while Lear was outside in during the storm, he basically questioned who he was not only as king, but as a man. "Doth any here know me? This is not Lear: Doth Lear walk thus? speak thus? Where are his eyes?" (I..IV.218-222). this quote just shows the depth of Lear’s troubles and blindness. Now that Lear has lost all his power to the evil actions of his two daughters, he’s essentially in an identity crisis, and unable to see who he truly is anymore with the title of “king”, which all play a part in his tragedy and eventual
Lear's vision is marred by lack of direction in life, poor foresight and his inability to predict the consequences of his actions. He cannot look far enough into the future to see the consequences of his actions. This, in addition to his lack of insight into other people, condemns his relationship with his most beloved daughter, Cordelia. When Lear asks his daughters, who loves him most, he already thinks that Cordelia has the most love for him. However, when Cordelia says: "I love your Majesty according to my bond, no more nor less." (I, i, 94-95) Lear cannot see what these words really mean. Goneril and Regan are only putting on an act. They do not truly love Lear as much as they should. When Cordelia says these words, she has seen her sister's facade, and she does not want to associate her true love with their false love. Lear, however, is fooled by Goneril and Regan into thinking that they love him, while Cordelia does not. This is when Lear first shows a sign of becoming blind to those around him. He snaps and disowns her: